Wes Watkins in Drumland - Shed en albumpresentatie - extra's

Extra's bij het artikel in Slagwerkkrant 194

Slagwerkkrant Plus 15-06-2016 12:06

door Bouke Bijlsma

Op het Slagwerkkrant Podium in Drumland te Lijnden speelde Watkins natuurlijk de nodige stukken van zijn album, en daarna was het shedden geblazen. Wie een kaartje besteld had, kreeg een gesigneerd exemplaar van de cd, en wie durfde kon samen spelen met Watkins achter de drie opgestelde drumkits. Opvallend en vlammend daarbij waren de bijdragen van Damian de Weerd, Davy Henket en Emmanuel Afriyie; volgens Fabian Benjamins van organisator Shedsessions.nl ‘drie talenten uit Nederland waar we trots op mogen zijn.’

Wes Watkins is tijdens de shed wel te spreken over het drumwerk van Damian de Weerd (rechts)

Wij vroegen Wes Watkins om een reactie, en de Amerikaan die zelden om woorden verlegen zit, kwam met een heel verhaal, over zijn album, over de clinic en de sheds, en over Shedsessions.nl. Hieronder kun je het lezen.

Much more than a resume
The name of my album is Got My Own Sound. Got My Own Sound means you are your own person in anything you do and that you have your own identity. When I get behind the drums I have my own style when I play and in everyday life I am my own person. I don’t follow the crowd, never been a follower, I am a leader.

This album was originally created to be a resume for musicians or artist who wanted to hire me and had never heard me play. In the process of recording songs with my band it began to be so much more. The vision for my album was to take people on roller coaster blind folded. I didn’t want it to be the normal of what you’re used to hearing. By collaberating with different musicians I was able to do just that. I had help from some of the greatest musicians that I have had the chance to play with.

The first song The Intro was written by myself and Branden Jacobs. The second song is titled He Surfed It, featuring Lawrence "Black Surfer” Farmer. This song was going to be a drum solo on my project, but then I had the idea of just letting Lawrence put music to it. I went in the studio and did a solo as if he was in the room playing with me. I sent it to him and he sent it back to me perfect. He played off of me just the way I wanted him to. The third song is titled On The Train, which was written by myself and Jerel Abraham. We were on the train in San Francisco headed to a video shoot, and I said: dude, we need a song to do, lol. So the entire train ride we were tossing ideas back and forth. We got to the video shoot and played 4 times and finally nailed it. When we recorded it and Branden laid down the keys and the sounds, it all came together.

Non Stop and On The Edge were produced by Chris Howden and bass on both tracks were done by Larry Mack. I literally told Chris: I need to 2 tracks, one to groove to with some hits and the other I want to just go off in my own world. About a week later he sent Non Stop and On the Edge. He is a musical genius to me and one favorite people to share the stage with, not to mention he also mixed and mastered my entire album.

The single on my album is called Sky. It was written by myself, Branden Jacobs and Carolyn Malachi, a Grammy Nominated Recording Artist and Songwriter. This was the first song written for the album. I wanted this to be a feel good and nice groove that people could vibe with. After I added Keith Hammond on guitar and Larry Mack on Horns it came to life. The final touch to this song were the lyrics Carolyn wrote and the dope rap at the end that she spit. It is a Dope Song! The last song is the Outro which features a great producer by the name of David James on Guitar. This a musical continuation of Sky. This song will also be featured on Carolyn Malachi’s new project. I am proud of this album and for everybody that helped me produce this, it made it to no.7 on the iTunes Charts on it’s release date.

Beyond Thankful
My experience in Amsterdam was a great experience as always. I enjoyed myself and the Album Release/Shed. It is always an honor to come and be welcomed by the Drumland store. Fabian Benjamins and Anthony Marck Amirkhan made all of this possible and I am beyond thankful to have come back to be part of this great experience. I feel that it was another successful Shed. I had the chance to meet a lot of new faces who hadn’t heard of me and sit down and play with them and answer any questions that they had. We will do this again. Shed Sessions NL is the best!

Beluister hieronder Got My Own Sound via Spotify

Bekijk het verslag in Slagwerkkrant 194 (juli-augustus 2016)